Explorer Marine recently undertook a re-tube on the Port Taranaki pilot vessel, Rawinia. The 17m long, 900mm diameter tube was designed and built at Explorer Marine’s Kumeu factory and installed on-site at Port Taranaki.
A high-grade Orca Hypalon, developed for extreme conditions, was imported specifically for the job, and while Explorer specialises in building Hypalon tubes for 6-12 metre boats, a project of this size does not come along very often. The ability of Explorer to digitise the tube into design software and then CNC machine the patterns was critical to ensure that there was an accurate fit and components were located in the correct position. Rawinia also had her nose fender rebuilt as part of the job, a ‘mission-critical’ piece of equipment, that has allowed her to get back onto Taranaki waters to continue to ferry workers to and from gas platforms.
